Horace Grant tells story of Michael Jordan punching a teammate

It's no secret that Michael Jordan was the ultimate competitor on the court, not just with his play, but with his mouth and his fists - even with his teammates.

Former teammate Horace Grant sat down with Hot 97 in New York and talked about Jordan's approach to practice. Considering Twitter and Vine weren't around and dozens of cameras didn't invade every practice, these priceless stories are all we have.

"Our practices were so intense because Phil (Jackson), the mastermind behind everything, would put M.J. on the second team," Grant said. "Me and Scottie (Pippen) would be on the first team. And then, being competitive like (Jordan) was, man ... unreal, unreal. And, you know, of course, punches got thrown, many fights. I'm just so happy that social media wasn't (around) back then."

"No, he beat up a big white boy. Will Perdue. I mean, I hate to tell the story, but Will and I are still good friends," Grant said. "Typical Phil, running this play, and Will set an illegal pick on M.J. M.J. said, 'Will, don't do it again.' 'What are you talking about?' That's Will. M.J. says, 'All right.' Phil says, 'Run it again.'

"So naturally, we ran it two more times. Illegal pick. M.J. walks up to Will - boom. Lit him up. It was over."

Perdue stood 7-1 and played alongside Jordan for four of Jordan's six NBA titles in Chicago. When Perdue went to defend himself, Grant said players were more concerned about protecting Jordan's well-being.

"We grabbed Will - you're not going to hurt M.J.," Grant said. "M.J. can take care of himself, but, you know. ... So, the next day on the plane, Will gets on the plane with a huge shiner."

Grant said he and Jordan often got into verbal spats, but Grant never hit Jordan because, "if M.J. goes out, the Bulls go out."

If such a fuss was made over Kobe Bryant's practice outburst earlier this season, imagine how much fun Jordan would've been to track on social media.